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A heartbreaking note from a laid-off MPS art teacher

I got a note early this morning via Facebook from one of the 482 teachers being laid off by MPS. Jill Engel got her notice in the mail on Saturday. This is the first time the school system has laid off teachers since 1982. Engel is an art teacher for The Alliance School, and I know a little about her impact as a creative teacher from friends and word of mouth. Though her note was never intended for a wide audience, Engel kindly agreed to let me share it at the blog. Here it is (with a few minor edits): »Read Full Blog Post

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Setting aside the educational and cultural effects of this for a moment, laying off public employees is so self-defeating. Income tax revenues decline. The laid-off employee cuts way back on spending, causing sales tax revenue to decline. Property values stagnate or decline, lowering property tax income. Exactly what is being accomplished by being so penny wise and pound foolish?

I've been an art teacher for many years and feel extremely fortunate not to have had Jill Engel's experience. I've known other good art teachers in her position. Unfortunately, I cannot recall a time when art (and music) teachers haven't had to defend their calling or worry about being the first to go when the public decides property taxes are too high.

I don't think it's because the arts are not valued. Nationally, if not locally, museum attendance has generally risen over the same period. I think it's because our society doesn't connect the importance of what art teachers do with their value for the arts and because of the entrenched attitude that "the three 'R's" are the only crucial part of education.

Of course, education in general isn't fairing much better in Milwaukee. I just finished reading the Journal Sentinel's op-ed section on the checkered legacy of Andrekopolous. The future doesn't look bright if 482 teachers are being laid off.

Here is one of my favorite quotes, by author Yann Martel: "If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and end up believing in nothing and have worthless dreams."

Everyone is having tough times right now and it is extending into public employees. Teachers are paid fairly (considering their three months off) and receive some of the best health and retirement benefits in the state. It's basically impossible to renegotiate contracts with the teachers union when economic difficulties cause tax revenue to fall so the only alternative is to lay off those employees who can be laid off.

Maybe the tens of millions of dollars siphoned off the payroll by union hacks might be better spent in troubled times than going in the pockets of the liberal hierarchy of the socialist party. Its your little oligarchy of back room deals and Cadillac benefit plans that have brought you to the brink.

Thinking that no matter how pathetic, and liberal public education has become it would never become more pathetic than the student body it serves; well, that day has come and the piles of money are not near high enough to float this titanic on its merry way. Get real, mps is a disaster in so many ways and your backside has probably been saved more than a few times, so just rejoice and be thankful you do not have to ride that ship into another iceberg.

Interesting; WEAC members suffer from a group-think which declares teachers should be immune to the economic disaster which is impacting virtually every other segment of society including health care providers, police officers, firefighters, legal aid, probation officers, food service workers, factory workers, construction workers, and social workers.

Mayor Bloomberg in NYC showed great leadership when he prevented the New York Public School District from making more than 4,000 teacher lay-offs. What did he do? He simply froze teacher salaries for two years. I'd suggest that the teacher's union look at some "modest" compromises so valuable teachers and essential subjects (such as art) continue to be taught in our school without any lay-offs. It can be done with far less pain than actual lay-offs.

In what parallel universe or alternate reality is it a good thing that people are losing their jobs? I'd like to ask Aquitas and Corey what makes you so delighted about 500 middle class wage earners in our city losing their income. Do you think maybe there will be a negative impact on other facets of the community, or do you have such a narrow world view that you can't think that far?

When I hear about workers in any other industry, from skilled trades to services, losing their jobs it breaks my heart. I worry about what their family is going through. Now that it is our turn, as educators, you take such delight in it. I have a family, too. Your idea that we lead some life of privilege is a bit skewed. Some of us had to rise up from poverty ourselves, become the first members of our family to go to college, and work to grow in to a career that is all encompassing beyond many people's imaginations. The love I have for my students, and the pain that having them ripped from me, is immeasurable. The work that my group of students with cognitive disabilities and autism have put in in the last three years, and the amazing amount of progress that they have made in terms of independence, quality of life, and self advocacy is more important than the words of a blowhard who is just trying to complete the narrative that plays in his head - one that is based on ignorance, half-truths, and assumptions.

Step in to my classroom and look in to the eyes of the kids who need me. Tell them they are about to lose one of the only steady figures they have in their lives. Tell them that in addition to poverty, homelessness, hunger, abuse, poor health, and various disabilities that their world is about to get rocked because of shortsightedness and a populace who isn't the least bit concerned about them. Its okay, it will be my burden to carry. You can remain in your small world where you only have to worry about you. How noble.

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